Beat Clippers: Home court in first round (likely) !

What's the point of even seeding them then? Oh well, at least the Rockerts get HCA!

 

Who's on first.

No, what's on second.

 

It's been spotty, but they've shown they can defend when they're motivated. Look at the Blazers, Sonics, Clippers, and Suns games as evidence. Granted 3 of those 4 teams are mediocre at best, but it all comes down to whether the Rockets as a collective unit give a crap.

We know guys like Scola, Deke, and Chuck will give their all everytime out, but that's not always the case with T-Mac or Rafer. Shane's problem lately has been the injuries so he gets a pass.

 

Well the most obvious culprit has been Tmac, who can't even find his man on the defensive end half the game. In fact, I can't remember the last time Tmac even got in foul trouble. Some games he doesn't even log his first foul until the 3rd quarter - that's a true mark of a lazy defender.

But it's not just Tmac.......Head, Landry, Bjax, and Scola at times have all been giving up open looks and easy buckets. And the team's halfcourt defensive rotations on the whole have been loosening up while they've sluggish getting back in transition. This is how we lost the game at SAC.

 

He got into foul trouble during the nuggets game 2 nights ago.

 

His defense sucked the past few games, won't deny that. Hell, he was even lazy vs. Melo. They had to swap T-Mac off him and put Mike Harris on him. Props to Harris for containing Melo.

 

I don't care who we play I am ready for the playoffs

 

Yes but he was guarding a stronger player in Melo that game and just ended up collecting some accidental fouls on him in the paint. Then when Adelman switched him to JR, it was like Head was guarding both JR and Iverson on every possession. So it wasn't like he got into foul trouble by actually trying to guard anyone. It was just a random freak incident that happens once in 35 games. Not unlike Tmac making 2 freethrows in a row

 

Its freakin r****dED (mentally challenged to be PC) that a team with a 20+ winning streak during the year is probably NOT going to be favored in the first round of the playoffs.

 

Code:

SA	UTA	HOU	PHO	3	4	5	6
L	W	L	L	[B]UTA[/B]	[B]SA[/B]	HOU	PHX
L	W	L	W	[B]UTA[/B]	[B]PHX[/B]	SA	HOU
L	W	W	L	[B]UTA[/B]	[B]SA[/B]	HOU	PHX
L	W	W	W	[B]UTA[/B]	PHX	[B]HOU[/B]	SA
W	L	L	L	[B]SA[/B]	[B]UTA[/B]	HOU	PHX
W	L	L	W	[B]SA[/B]	UTA	[B]PHX[/B]	HOU
W	L	W	L	[B]SA[/B]	UTA	[B]HOU[/B]	PHX
W	L	W	W	[B]SA[/B]	UTA	[B]HOU[/B]	PHX

Bold = Homecourt

I think this table is valid and correct per all possible scenarios.

 

I understand how we would have HCA if we are the 5 seed and the Jazz are the 4 seed, but what I quoted makes no sense. If we have HCA over Phoenix, then there is no way we can be the 5 seed; we would have to be the 4 seed since Phoenix can't win the Pacific Division (Lakers have already clinched it). I mean am I missing something here? If I am, I need someone to walk me through how a team that didn't win its division AND lost the tiebreaker to a team that it is tied with is the higher seed (in this case the #4 seed) compared to the other team. It just isn't possible.

 

DD, I think my table above concurs with your initial post. I hope the curse of Brandon Roy doesn't come back to bite us in the behind again (i.e. he leads the Blazers to a victory over the Suns)!!

 

So, you are saying that if the Suns somehow played the Spurs and they along with the Rockets and Jazz are all 55-27, then the Suns would have the HCA against the Spurs? I think I now see how what you are saying is possible. Yet one thing troubles me - ESPN's bottomline kept saying that the Spurs have clinched the #3 seed whereas in what is being talked about in this thread, that is obviously not true. So, ESPN is mistaken about the Spurs clinching the #3 seed?

 

They must already have access to the Playoff Seedings in advance so that they can structure the broadcast schedule accordingly....

 

DaDakota, Scribo disagrees with you. He says:

"Let's remember our order of operations.
1) Pick Division winners. That's the Jazz, Lakers, and Hornets. So take the Jazz out of that 4 team tie break.
2) Pick the best team that's not a division winner. The Suns win the three team tie break with the Rockets, Suns, and Spurs. Suns are 5-3 (3-1 against Spurs, 2-2 against Rockets), Rockets are 4-4 (2-2 against Suns, 2-2 against Spurs), Spurs are 3-5 (2-2 against Rockets, 1-3 against Suns). Suns get a top 4 seed.
3) Seed the 1-4 based on record. Hornets and Lakers are #1 and #2 (order to be determined still). The Jazz have the tie break on the Suns so Utah is #3 and Suns are #4.
4) Seed 5-8. Rockets and Spurs are tied, but the Spurs own the two team tie break on the Rockets due to a better division record so Spurs are #5, Rockets are #6.
5) Award home court based by record, deciding ties by 2 team tie break. That means (Houston) draws the Jazz, but (Houston) loses the tie break and doesn't get HCA. The Spurs draw the Suns but Phoenix has HCA.

I am confident this is how it shakes out. "